Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century EnglandAstrology, witchcraft, magical healing, divination, ancient prophecies, ghosts, and fairies were taken very seriously by people at all social and economic levels in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England. Helplessness in the face of disease and human disaster helped to perpetuate this belief in magic and the supernatural. As Keith Thomas shows, England during these years resembled in many ways today's "underdeveloped areas." The English population was exceedingly liable to pain, sickness, and premature death; many were illiterate; epidemics such as the bubonic plague plowed through English towns, at times cutting the number of London's inhabitants by a sixth; fire was a constant threat; the food supply was precarious; and for most diseases there was no effective medical remedy. In this fascinating and detailed book, Keith Thomas shows how magic, like the medieval Church, offered an explanation for misfortune and a means of redress in times of adversity. The supernatural thus had its own practical utility in daily life. Some forms of magic were challenged by the Protestant Reformation, but only with the increased search for scientific explanation of the universe did the English people begin to abandon their recourse to the supernatural. Science and technology have made us less vulnerable to some of the hazards which confronted the people of the past. Yet Religion and the Decline of Magic concludes that "if magic is defined as the employment of ineffective techniques to allay anxiety when effective ones are not available, then we must recognize that no society will ever be free from it." |
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Page 38
... woman who claimed to have been ' bishopped ' seven times , because she found it helped her rheumatism.1 Another ... woman's new role as mother , and her resumption of sexual relations with her husband after a period of ritual seclusion ...
... woman who claimed to have been ' bishopped ' seven times , because she found it helped her rheumatism.1 Another ... woman's new role as mother , and her resumption of sexual relations with her husband after a period of ritual seclusion ...
Page 60
... woman was unclean after child- birth until she had been magically purified ; and it was true that some of the bishops regarded ' purifying ' as the mot juste . The need for such purification , declared one preacher , speaking of sexual ...
... woman was unclean after child- birth until she had been magically purified ; and it was true that some of the bishops regarded ' purifying ' as the mot juste . The need for such purification , declared one preacher , speaking of sexual ...
Page 192
... woman , Alice Marton , in 1590 , when she admitted to curing cattle diseases by medicine and drinks , but not by charming.1 As the very name reminds us , a cunning woman was simply a woman who knew more than other people ; it did not ...
... woman , Alice Marton , in 1590 , when she admitted to curing cattle diseases by medicine and drinks , but not by charming.1 As the very name reminds us , a cunning woman was simply a woman who knew more than other people ; it did not ...
Contents
The Environment | 3 |
RELIGION | 6 |
The Magic of the Medieval Church | 25 |
Copyright | |
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